As the flood of releases took the world by assault in the past 15-20 years, some younger bands looked for a more personal insight on the genres (and others stood as copies of what is already known). Obviously that on a time when patience to hear and understand a band and their releases became something unusual, to discover something different is a pleasure for the bored older fans (as this writer that's writing these words). This is precisely what TEMBLAD (a North American band from San Diego, CA) is doing on "Hallucignosis".

It's a personal mix between influences of Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Grindcore, and some touches of old Hardcore, but with a refined technical work on the instruments (their music is rich in terms of arrangements and rhythmic shifts, broken tempos and changes between the tunes of the vocals). It's aggressive and brutal, full of energy and with a smashing impact on the ears, but even with such technical level, the band's music isn't hard to be understood and absorbed by the senses. And besides the words above couldn't explain fully what they're about, a patient listening can put all the doubts down. Mixed and mastered by the hands of Niko Hyvönen, the album bears a brutal and crude approach, something that tries to show an organic insight (in other words, something that's not overloaded on digital editions). But it doesn't mean that things aren't defined or understandable, but it's the opposite: everything is clear and exposed. It's a fine work, indeed.

The songs show excellent level of quality, but for a first time on their work, "Catastrophidian" (a song full of rhythmic shifts, but brutal and nasty in a way that can harm the eardrums of the non-used hearers, with charming vocals that presents an ample set of tunes, from grunts to shrieks and with some normal voices), "Dierex" (another moment with very good rhythmic changes and catchy takes, presenting a strong and precise work on bass guitar and drums), "Supramundane Predations" (a 10 minutes song rich variations of rhythms and ambiences, with charming arrangements on the guitars, where many hooks can be heard), and "To Unbecome Empty in Rot" are the right ones to crush your bones.

TEMBLAD is a courageous band, indeed, and extreme Metal fans will devour the songs of "Hallucignosis" without problems.